As a tribute to the great snow we have been having this season here in Colorado, let’s take a look at how ski resorts engage in marketing and get you up on the slopes. The snow has done most of the talking for the resorts this year as forecasts of fresh powder motivate skiers to head to the mountains, but let’s see what else is going on here in Colorado and elsewhere. Social media and digital venues play the biggest role in ski resorts marketing practices. This makes sense since their marketing position can change overnight with a big snowstorm to use as bait.
Vail Resorts often use ski videos to sell their product. These videos showcase things most guests cannot do but get people excited. Videos are easily deliverable. The videos and social media efforts push real time decision-making instead of guests planning their trips to the resorts months in advance.
Most resorts use social media outlets such as Facebook to connect with their audience and share updates about driving conditions, snow conditions, après ski events, etc. It is crucial that the resorts are responsive to their audience’s questions on social media more so than other companies because of the nature of their product. Their audience wants to know what’s going on in the now. If this post from Breckenridge doesn’t get you going I don’t know what else will.
Traditional print advertisements are often not the best use of a marketing budget for ski resorts. Resorts do not want to commit to advertisements 4-6 months in advance because at the time the advertisement runs months later the resort might have changed the position they want to push and ski conditions might have changed immensely.
Squaw Valley in California had one of the best and simplest real-time marketing tactics last year. They had an app that pushed notifications to all users. These notifications were short and sweet text messages reminding the users of the conditions. An example reads, “7” of new snow. Come enjoy some mid week freshies!” It’s hard to resist a personal invite.
See our recent work here. And don’t hesitate to reach out.